Ogun State Government has sealed four private hospitals in the state for alleged various infractions, warning other owners of private facilities to uphold the standard of practice required by law or face sanctions.
The sealed hospitals included: Ise Oluwa Hospital, Obada; Rainmond Hospital, Divine Glory Hospital and Ise Oluwa Hospital Annex, all at Papalanto in Ewekoro Local Government Area of the state.
Speaking during the monitoring and compliance exercise, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Tomi Coker, said that the move was informed by an unprofessional prescription by a certain medical doctor in the social media space.
She quoted the doctor’s prescription as stating that: “No heart beat: The body system is normal,” stating that it emanated from one of the sealed hospitals a few days ago.
Coker, who was represented by the Director, Hospital Services in the ministry, Dr Solomon Sokunbi, expressed dissatisfaction over what she called the unprofessional medical report.
According to her, the medical report connotes quackery, as far as medical practice is concerned, warning that such practice will not be tolerated in the state.
The commissioner said that the said facility had been traced and sealed accordingly, alongside the remaining three, over lack of qualified medical staffers, non-registration of the premises and medical negligence, among other offences.
Stating that human life is precious and must not be toyed with, she added that the health of the people of the state, irrespective of their class or status, remained important to the present administration.
Coker said that the state government’s goal of achieving universal health coverage could not be realised without the involvement of the private sector, stressing that things must be done in line with global best practices.
She said private medical practitioners were free to walk into the ministry to find out the criteria for registration of their health facilities.
This, the commissioner said, would ensure that only qualified medical personnel were employed to treat people.
“In Ogun, we have rules and regulations guiding registration of health facilities. As such, whenever our monitoring team discovers that a hospital has deviated from the rules and regulations, we have no choice than to close it down,” she said.
The commissioner warned that owners of hospitals, clinics, medical laboratories and other medical facilities operating without full approval of the state government risked closure of their facilities, paying fine and facing possible legal action.
She assured that the exercise would be a continuous one, aimed at ensuring that quackery and untoward sharp practices in the medical profession were reduced to the barest minimum across the state.
